Thrifted

October is BUY NOTHING NEW month. I am currently on a year-long mission to refrain from buying any new clothing items; the only new items going into my wardrobe as of June 1st 2015 will be thrifted and gifted. It's working out fine, I already have more than enough clothes anyway- most of us do. The impact of cheap, fast, and disposable fashion on our environment and society is horrendous. The 'buy less, make it last' movement should be a standard mantra, but sadly it is not in our modern world where status and materialism reigns supreme. It is crazy, especially when you can find the things you need- or the things you think you need- through other avenues. Make do, borrow, thrift. Sustainability is everyones responsibility. In the FLOWER INDUSTRY too.

I have always loved thrifting for vases. Some of my best buys have been found in charity shops and on market stalls. I thought I'd put together a post to illustrate the beauty brought to my home through thrifted vases. I've chosen four of my favourites.

What: Vintage depression era glass,

Where: from a market stall,

Featuring: pink and blush ranunculus,

Cost: I can't really remember the cost of this one, but under $20 certainly, 

it was bought for me by my Mum a few years ago now.

See it filled with stunning roses HERE.

What: Vintage brass bud vase,

Where: from a collectables store in Robertson, NSW,

Featuring: my favourite blue hue of hydrangea,

Cost: from memory I paid $17 or $18 for 2.

See the pair of them filled with sweet smelling stock HERE.

What: Vintage milk-glass vase,

Where: a retro collectables store called S t o n e C o t t a g e in Berridale, NSW,

Featuring: creamy white ranunculus,

Cost: this was $15 (I got a small discount because I know the lovely owner).

See it filled with garden-cut spring blossom HERE.

What: Vintage milky-green agate vase,

Where: charity shop in Crows Nest, Sydney,

Featuring: may bush,

Cost: this was $13 or $14.

See it with blush tulips HERE.

It is also possible to create beautiful displays just with what is already in your cupboards, or growing in your garden, like I did HERE, HERE, HERE, HERE and even HERE. 

Of course, buying second hand vases isn't saving the world. But applying this approach to all of the purchases you make, goes some way to ensuring that you are treading more lightly upon the earth. When it comes to flowers: choose in-season flowers, buy direct from the grower if possible OR take your snips into your garden to see what might be available, invest in good quality artificial flowers, avoid imported varieties which are sprayed with an array of chemicals in order to pass quarantine, take your vase along to a florist and ask them to create directly into it rather than wrapping your flowers in waste heavy packaging, and limit the flower food you use- clean water and freshly cut stems should be enough.

 Below are helpful links with information about sustainability across many aspects of everyday life:

GOOD GUIDE

THE TRUE COST

FRIENDS OF THE EARTH

1 MILLION WOMEN

+1 Million Women (Australian Climate Coolers) 

Kate  x

Styling and Photographs by M o s s & V i n e

Love beautiful things?

Me too.

So, I will share with you some pretty// gorgeous// beautiful// stunning// exquisite things.

The Tenth Meadow is the kind of life I dream of living.

Ginnyau has a near perfect aesthetic happening. Her images are blissful. If I could style images half as well as her... oh my!

And whilst we are admiring aesthetics, we must stop by Pearl & Godiva.

Here is Snippet & Ink paying homage to The Mrs Box. And rightly so.

How about the stunning website design at Flannel Flowers?

And here is photographic proof that roses are simply exquisite, no matter what stage of their life they are at.

So much beauty in the world.

K xx

Styling and Photography by Moss & Vine

Blossom and bloom

"A flower does not think of competing to the flower next to it. 

It just blooms."

Zen Shin

K xx

Styling and Photographs by Moss & Vine

Necessities

You know you're a florist when the amount of cut flowers in your home surpasses the number of vases you have to put them in. It is doubly true when you've exhausted your drinking glass collection and start to consider empty wine bottles. I am also guilty of looking at my kitchen sink, filled with water and flowers, and thinking why can't they just stay in there until they die?

There are floristry tools that are optional, and there are floristry tools that are so fundamental that they are almost more important than the flowers themselves. Vases. What good is a bunch of roses without the perfect vase to put them in? So it was a great relief to me when my man posed the question, what do you buy your florist partner where you would have otherwise bought flowers? and came up with the answer, vase. He has stated that for every Valentine's Day instead of the traditional bouquet of red flowers I will receive a vase. The above vase was my Christmas present. A stunning Vera Wang for Wedgwood crystal vase.

K xx

Flower love

There are flowers I went into floristry expecting to love, and flowers I couldn't care less about. What surprised me more than flower preference was  how easily I could give my flowers away after class. My Mum, my Grandmother, and my Mother in Law, they all received flowers, some of them more than once. I had so many blooms to 'babysit' each week that I readily gave them away. I formed no attachment to my first ever King Protea, or the second for that matter. Both went to new homes, happily. A whole stem of Cymbidium Orchids was plucked from a makeshift vase and sent to my flower-loving Grandmother, who I am sure has never resented cut flowers. My Mum received my first ever spiralled posy, probably the best posy I've ever made. And yet I was eager to share my flowers with her.

It turns out you can resent flowers. I was short on space, short on vases, and changing the water in each vase/drinking glass was low on my to do list. I had anthuriums hanging out on my coffee table for weeks, and I was willing them to just die. It seemed like every time I went to class there would be more anthuriums in my bucket. Inevitably they'd join the other anthuriums still going strong in my living room. Don't even get me started on monsterea leaves...

There are flowers I love. Ranunculus are my current favourite. I'll never say no to a rose, especially the flawless David Austin varieties. So, here I thought i'd list the flower types that I am surprised I took a liking to:

Hydrangea- which can be devilishly difficult to keep looking 'happy' in the vase. But it's most endearing quality? It's BIG. Which means it fills a vase quickly, but most of all it's a dream flower to have when putting together a spiralled bouquet, hiding gaps, and just generally looking very pretty.

Magnolia Leaves- you only need to rub one of these beauties between your thumb and finger in order to fall in love. The velvet brown underside is magnificent. They are my absolute favourite leaf to wire for bouquets.

Berzelia- is striking, and oh-so-textured. This baby adds interest wherever you use it. It can jazz up a posy, be wired onto a hair circlet, or fill out a buttonhole. It adds serious interest wherever it goes.

Do you have a favourite flower?

K xx

Vases

As soon as my floral career had begun it was very clear I lacked a necessary tool: a large stash of vases. I was attending two classes per week and coming home with fresh flowers after each class. I very quickly exhausted my modest vase collection.

And so countless blooms and leaves were stripped, snipped and plonked into various drinking glasses each week. My problem was now two-fold. Too few vases and too few tumblers for drinking from.

This is the first new vase I bought to address my vase deficit. Whilst not a large vase, it is dramatic to say the least.

Needless to say, vase numbers have increased in this household recently.

K xx

A floral feeling

Around the middle of the year I acknowledged a 'feeling' that I had spent the best part of eight or nine years dismissing. The feeling that I might like to be a florist. When I was around 16 years old I thought that I'd really like to be a florist. That was, if I didn't adore school and learning, and wasn't planning on pursuing a university degree and a career in...something. But those things, were in fact, my biggest priorities. I loved history and literature. I was a diligent student. And I know this because 'diligence' was a word that was used frequently by my teachers on my report cards. And so, floristry was well and truly buried. Floristry was a career path for girls who dropped out of school mid-way through. Not for me. I had a university degree to obtain in...something.

I did get that university degree (and it wasn't a fun, or fast ride). But it meant nothing to me. It still doesn't. University was quite simply put: a disappointment. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, what jobs I might be best suited to, and what career path I was capable of tackling. I have a degree in something. Something I struggle to articulate when faced with the questions, "what is anthropology?" and, "what can you do with a degree in anthropology?".

Floristry. That's what I've decided to do with my degree in anthropology. And in September I took the first step. I started attending floristry school.

So, read along as I document my progress from floristry student to florist extraordinaire! I hope to grow Moss & Vine from simply a student's blog spot, to extra-curricular creative outlet, to flourishing business that will pay my bills and leave a little left over to fill my house with ranunculus every Spring.

Warm regards from a ranunculus lover,

Kate  xx